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242 compete in Brazosport Relay Triathlon
Published September 13, 2009
LAKE JACKSON — A total of 242 athletes ran, biked and swam their way around Lake Jackson on Saturday during the Brazosport Relay Triathlon.
The annual event is broken down in four parts — a 1K swim, a pair of 5K runs and a 15-mile cycle. This year, the bike route was cut 1 1/2 miles, meaning lower times for the field of 57 teams of four and 14 competitors in the individual triathlon race.
Overall male individual winner Christopher Sustala was participating in his first Brazosport Relay Triathlon. He moved to the area last year from League City and never heard of the event before coming to Lake Jackson.
“Going into it I really didn’t know what to expect, but I had some friends walk me through it and I thought it was great,” Sustala said. “Everything went like clockwork, and the finish didn’t appear too late.”
Sustala completed the course in 1 hour, 29 minutes and 28 seconds and broke the male open record of 1:33:53 set in 2004 by Bill Bender of Missouri City.
“I’ve done a lot of different triathlons all over the place and I really like this one,” he said. “It’s pretty unique and it was a lot of fun.”
Michael Tarabay from Lake Jackson came in second in 1:40:18. Kayle Wells of Lake Jackson was third in 1:42:16, edging out fourth-place finisher Emil Raschle of Lake Jackson, who finished 29 seconds behind.
Winning the individual women’s race in 1:41:56 was Abbie Artley of Lake Jackson. She also set an individual record, beating her own female open mark of 1:52:48 set last year.
Artley said she wasn’t feeling well this week and almost didn’t race until she decided to give it a go Saturday morning.
“I’m really glad I raced after all,” she said. “I did better with my swim, it’s my weakest event, and felt really good about the run and really good about the bike. The weather held off and it wasn’t too hot. It turned out to be a pretty great day.”
Taking second place for the women was Linda Young of Lake Jackson in 1:49:30, and Kelly Anne Colosimo of Lake Jackson placed third in 1:54:21.
One reason Artley runs the relay triathlon is because of the camaraderie with all the athletes. Her husband, Donnie, ran to a first-place finish in the male ages 161-200 category with team BUOLZOWT, and her mother and daughter were there to cheer them on.
“The people who run the race are all great and you see so many people you know out there running and competing,” Artley said. “It’s a fun time and a really well-run event, and everybody seems to enjoy themselves. I think it’s something I will be doing for a long time.”
The triathlon relay race competition is broken down into age groups with all-male, all-female and mixed divisions. The teams with the lowest time in each of the three divisions wins an overall group award.
The male team with the lowest time was C.J.X.S. of Clute in 1:23:41. The squad was made up of three Brazoswood high schoolers — senior swimmer Cody Armstrong and runners senior Justin Garner and freshman Xavier Jimenez — along with cycler Scotty Herrera.
“The guys did well,” Armstrong said. “It’s pretty cool to get first place. All the guys did their job.
“You can’t really train together because of the different legs, so we just came together and all did our parts. We wanted to get the fastest time of any team, but we still did a good job.”
C.J.X.S. set a new men’s team record, breaking the former best time of 1:24:29 set in 2002.
The top female team was the Marvelous Motivated Mothers. The group from The Woodlands finished in 1:51:04 with swimmer Valerie Johnson, cycler Michelle Maggert and runners Missy O’Connor and Jennifer Gerard.
Finishing with the lowest time of the triathlon, and winning the mixed team title was The Macrophages. The Houston squad of swimmer Daniel Shiosaki, cycler Luke Gilman and runners Marissa Clapp and Adam Davis finished the race in 1:22:17 to set a new event record. The group broke the previous lowest time set in 1999 by 14 seconds.
Gilman competed in the event last year and brought a new group of teammates for this year’s race.
“We absolutely had a great time,” Shiosaki said. “We all do our own thing — one likes to bike, some like to run and I get to swim — so it’s really great for each of us. We all did our part and were happy with the final time.”
Jim Levesque is a sports writer for The Facts. Contact him at 979-237-0161.
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